"I was a junior at Prospect High School in Saratoga on April 20, 1999 - the day of Columbine. I remember the confusion, the disbelief and the collective sense that something had shifted in America forever. At the time, it was completely unthinkable that children could be gunned down in their school hallways. It was a tragedy. And yet, in the years since, we have seen it over and over again - Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde and too many others to name."
"This morning, my 7-year-old daughter told me about her drill. She told me that her class has to be the fastest because they're the first classroom on campus. She asked me, "What happens if we're not the fastest and someone was there to hurt them?" Then she told me, with the kind of blind faith only a child can have, that her teacher said she would protect them. (We do not deserve teachers!)"
Children in the United States practice "run, hide, defend" drills at school to prepare for active shooters. A seven-year-old's fear about not being the fastest in a drill illustrates how drills shape student experience and parental anxiety. Parents can no longer guarantee children's safety when dropping them at school. Columbine on April 20, 1999 marked a turning point; subsequent mass shootings at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde and others made such violence routine. Schools have integrated drills, fear and tragedy into daily life as a consequence of prioritizing the Second Amendment over child safety. Responsible gun ownership and sensible reforms can coexist.
Read at The Mercury News
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